How-to-make-stress-your-friend(from-TED)

1、I have a confession坦白；忏悔 to make,but first, I want youto make a little confession to me.In the past year, I want you to just raise your handif youve experienced relatively little stress.Anyone?How about a moderate adj. 稳健的，温和的；适度的，中等的；有节制的vi. 变缓和，变弱vt. 节制；减轻amount of stress?Who has experienced a lot

2、 of stress?Yeah. Me too.But that is not my confession.My confession is this: I am a health psychologist,and my mission is to help people be happier and healthier.But I fear that something Ive been teachingfor the last 10 years is doing more harm than good,and it has to do with stress.For years Ive b

3、een telling people, stress makes you sick.It increases the risk of everything from the common coldto cardiovascular disease心血管疾病. Basically, Ive turned stress into the enemy.But I have changed my mind about stress,and today, I want to change yours.Let me start with the study that made me rethinkmy w

4、hole approach to stress.This study tracked 30,000 adults in the United Statesfor eight years, and they started by asking people,How much stress have you experienced in the last year?They also asked, Do you believethat stress is harmful for your health?And then they used public death recordsto find o

5、ut who died. (Laughter)Okay. Some bad news first.People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous yearhad a 43 percent increased risk of dying.But that was only true for the peoplewho also believed that stress is harmful for your health.(Laughter)People who experienced a lot of stressbut did n

6、ot view stress as harmfulwere no more likely to die.In fact, they had the lowest risk of dyingof anyone in the study, including peoplewho had relatively little stress.Now the researchers estimatedn. 估计，估价；判断，看法vt. 估计，估量；判断，评价 that over the eight yearsthey were tracking deaths,182,000 Americans died

7、prematurelyadv. 过早地；早熟地,not from stress, but from the beliefthat stress is bad for you. (Laughter)That is over 20,000 deaths a year.Now, if that estimate is correct,that would make believing stress is bad for youthe 15th largest cause of deathin the United States last year,killing more people than s

8、kin cancer,HIV/AIDS and homicidehmsad谋杀，杀人. (Laughter)You can see why this study freaked me out.Here Ive been spending so much energy telling people stress is bad for your health.So this study got me wondering:Can changing how you think about stressmake you healthier? And here the science says yes.W

9、hen you change your mind about stress,you can change your bodys response to stress.Now to explain how this works,I want you all to pretend that you are participantsin a study designed to stress you out.Its called the social stress test.You come into the laboratory,and youre told you have to give a f

10、ive-minuteimpromptumprmptu n. 即兴曲；即席演出adv. 即席地adj. 即席的 speech on your personal weaknessesto a panel座谈小组，全体陪审员 of expert evaluators sitting right in front of you,and to make sure you feel the pressure,there are bright lights and a camera in your face,kind of like this.And the evaluators have been tra

11、inedto give you discouraging, non-verbaladj. 非语言的；非用言语的 feedbackn. 反馈；成果，资料；回复 like this. (Laughter)Now that youre sufficientlyadv. 充分地；足够地 demoralizeddimrlaizdadj. 士气低落的；泄气的,time for part two: a math test.And unbeknownst adv. 不知地adj. 不知的to you,the experimenter has been trained to harassvt. 使困扰；使烦恼；

12、反复袭击 you during it.Now were going to all do this together.Its going to be fun.For me.Okay. I want you all to count backwardsfrom 996 in incrementsn. 数 增量；增加（decrement渐减） of seven.Youre going to do this out loudas fast as you can, starting with 996.Go!Audience: (Counting)Go faster. Faster please.Your

13、e going too slow.Stop. Stop, stop, stop.That guy made a mistake.We are going to have to start all over again. (Laughter)Youre not very good at this, are you?Okay, so you get the idea.Now, if you were actually in this study,youd probably be a little stressed out.Your heart might be pounding,you might

14、 be breathing faster, maybe breaking out into a sweat.And normally, we interpret说明；口译；解释 these physical changesas anxietyor signs that we arent coping very well with the pressure.But what if you viewed them insteadas signs that your body was energized,was preparing you to meet this challenge?Now tha

15、t is exactly what participants were toldin a study conducted at Harvard University.Before they went through the social stress test,they were taught to rethink their stress response as helpful.That pounding heart is preparing you for action.If youre breathing faster, its no problem.Its getting more o

16、xygen to your brain.And participants who learned to view the stress responseas helpful for their performance,well, they were less stressed out,less anxious, more confident,but the most fascinating finding to mewas how their physical stress response changed. Now, in a typical stress response,your hea

17、rt rate goes up,and your blood vesselsn. 组织 脉管，血管；容器，器皿；船，舰； constrict vt. 压缩；束紧like this. And this is one of the reasons that chronic stressis sometimes associated with cardiovascular disease. Its not really healthy to be in this state all the time.But in the study, when participants viewedtheir st

18、ress response as helpful,their blood vessels stayed relaxed like this.Their heart was still pounding, but this is a much healthier cardiovascular profilen. 侧面；轮廓；外形；剖面；简况vt. 描的轮廓；扼要描述vi. 给出轮廓.It actually looks a lot like what happensin moments of joy and courage.Over a lifetime of stressful experien

19、ces,this one biological changecould be the differencebetween a stress-induced heart attack at age 50and living well into your 90s.And this is really what the new science of stress reveals,that how you think about stress matters.So my goal as a health psychologist has changed.I no longer want to get

20、rid of your stress.I want to make you better at stress.And we just did a little interventionn. 介入；调停；妨碍.If you raised your hand and saidyoud had a lot of stress in the last year,we could have saved your life,because hopefully the next timeyour heart is pounding from stress,youre going to remember th

21、is talkand youre going to think to yourself, this is my body helping me rise to this challenge.And when you view stress in that way,your body believes you,and your stress response becomes healthier.Now I said I have over a decade of demonizivt. 妖魔化；使成为魔鬼ng stressto redeemvt. 赎回；挽回；兑换；履行；补偿；恢复 myself

22、 from,so we are going to do one more intervention.I want to tell you about one of the mostunder-appreciated aspects of the stress response,and the idea is this:Stress makes you social.To understand this side of stress,we need to talk about a hormone, oxytocin,and I know oxytocin has already gottenas

23、 much hypen. 大肆宣传；皮下注射vt. 大肆宣传；使兴奋 as a hormone can get.It even has its own cute nickname, the cuddle拥抱；偎依；舒服地贴著身睡 hormone,because its released when you hug someone.But this is a very small part of what oxytocin is involved in.Oxytocin is a neuro-hormone神经激素.It fine-tunesvt. 调整；使有规则；对进行微调 your brain

24、s social instinctn. 本能，直觉；天性adj. 充满着的s.It primesvt. 使准备好；填装vi. 作准备 you to do thingsthat strengthen close relationships.Oxytocin makes you cravekrev vt. 渴望；恳求vi. 渴望；恳求 physical contactwith your friends and family.It enhances your empathympi神入；移情作用；执着.It even makes you more willing to help and support

25、the people you care about.Some people have even suggestedwe should snort 鼻吸oxytocinto become more compassionateadj. 慈悲的；富于同情心的vt. 同情；怜悯 and caring.But heres what most people dont understandabout oxytocin.Its a stress hormone.Your pituitary. 垂体；脑垂体 gland pumps this stuff outas part of the stress resp

26、onse.Its as much a part of your stress responseas the adrenaline drnln n. 生化 肾上腺素 that makes your heart pound.And when oxytocin is released in the stress response,it is motivating you to seek support.Your biological stress responseis nudgingv. 轻推；刺激 you to tell someone how you feelinstead of bottlin

27、g it up隐藏，克制.Your stress response wants to make sure you noticewhen someone else in your life is strugglingso that you can support each other.When life is difficult, your stress response wants youto be surrounded by people who care about you.Okay, so how is knowing this side of stressgoing to make y

28、ou healthier?Well, oxytocin doesnt only act on your brain.It also acts on your body,and one of its main roles in your bodyis to protect your cardiovascular systemfrom the effects of stress.Its a natural anti-inflammatory,ntiinflmeitri 抗炎药.It also helps your blood vessels stay relaxed during stress.B

29、ut my favorite effect on the body is actually on the heart. Your heart has receptors for this hormone,and oxytocin helps heart cells regenerateand heal from any stress-induced damage.This stress hormone strengthens your heart,and the cool thing is that all of these physical benefitsof oxytocin are e

30、nhanced by social contactand social support,so when you reach out to others under stress,either to seek support or to help someone else,you release more of this hormone,your stress response becomes healthier,and you actually recover faster from stress.I find this amazing,that your stress response ha

31、s a built-in mechanismfor stress resilience,and that mechanism is human connection.I want to finish by telling you about one more study.And listen up, because this study could also save a life.This study tracked about 1,000 adults in the United States,and they ranged in age from 34 to 93,and they st

32、arted the study by asking,How much stress have you experienced in the last year?They also asked, How much time have you spenthelping out friends, neighbors,people in your community?And then they used public records for the next five yearsto find out who died.Okay, so the bad news first:For every maj

33、or stressful life experience,like financial difficulties or family crisis,that increased the risk of dying by 30 percent.But - and I hope you are expecting a but by now -but that wasnt true for everyone.People who spent time caring for othersshowed absolutely no stress-related increase in dying. Zer

34、o.Caring created resiliencen. 恢复力；弹力；韧性.And so we see once againthat the harmful effects of stress on your healthare not inevitable.How you think and how you actcan transform your experience of stress.When you choose to view your stress responseas helpful,you create the biology of courage.And when y

35、ou choose to connect with others under stress,you can create resilience.Now I wouldnt necessarily askfor more stressful experiences in my life,but this science has given mea whole new appreciation for stress.Stress gives us access to our hearts.The compassionate heart that finds joy and meaningin connecting with others,and yes, your pounding physic